The conjuncture of the cultural sectors and the analysis of opportunities and challenges of cultural tourism

The purpose of this note is twofold: the first is to analyse the economic trends of the main cultural sectors, to highlight signs of recovery and/or critical issues; the second is to deepen the analysis of a particularly relevant demand segment, which is that expressed by tourism with a predominantly cultural purpose.

On the first aspect, unfortunately, the publication of ISTAT data is very slow. To date, the only official data available for the different sectors (museums, libraries, entertainment) are stopped at 2022, and no aggregated national data on user spending or participation behaviour for 2023 have been published either.

Therefore, the 2023 trend can only be derived at the moment from the publication of some data by a few large museums and a few sector reports. These first data, which require great caution in their interpretation, contain first indications of an almost complete recovery of the pre-Covid levels of enjoyment of the historical-artistic heritage, clearly correlated with the growth of tourist presences, especially in the international component.

Data for 2022 allow a breakdown by sector. They generally show a recovery from the previous year, although not such as to return to pre-pandemic levels. A positive exception is the light music concerts sector, which saw a marked expansion, only partly motivated by the recovery of activities cancelled for Covid and occurring despite a not-so-slight increase in price levels. The expansive phase was also positively reflected in employment, with predominance, however, of the private and collaborative component, due to its greater ease of adjustment to actual demand levels.

The second part of the note is dedicated to the topic of cultural tourism.

This is the segment of tourism considered most valuable, due to its greater economic returns (higher average expenditure per tourist) and lower negative impacts (less seasonality, greater sensitivity to conservation and protection issues), although the great success of some cities of art, including Florence, has recently increased the visibility of the negative impacts (inflationary effects on local prices, starting with those of housing, distortion of the productive fabric towards tourist-oriented accommodation and trade, increased levels of petty crime, pressure on fragile natural and cultural resources, etc.).

This is also the most relevant tourism segment for Tuscany. In fact, according to a national classification proposed by ISTAT, Tuscany is one of the regions with the greatest vocation for tourism (all the Municipalities are endowed with tourist attractions) and among those with the heaviest share of cultural tourism: 28% of the Municipalities are classified as having a prevalent cultural-tourist vocation and a further 16% as having a partial cultural-tourist vocation, for a total of almost half of the Municipalities (44%), for which the cultural offer is relevant. The large territorial diffusion of the historical-artistic heritage and the possibility of enhancing the offer of local attractions by acting on the entertainment and show business part, which can be more easily modified in the short term, are therefore good opportunities to combine the objectives of valorisation (of lesser known territories) with those of sustainability (of territories subject to excessive pressures). The note closes with an analysis on a local scale of the distribution of both tourist presences and users of the historical-artistic heritage and entertainment offer. This makes it possible to highlight the region’s major factors of attraction (art, sea, landscape), which appear diversified and widespread, and to compare locally the levels of each component (tourists in general vs. cultural consumers). Various combinations emerge, the most interesting of which are the following two: places with a strong cultural attraction but little ability to keep tourists in the area (usually small decentralised municipalities) and those with many tourists but few cultural consumers (usually seaside areas). Although schematically framed, these two extreme typologies offer insights for the implementation of targeted development policies and the construction of new tourism products. The expected benefits concern the territorial and seasonal spread of flows, but also positive spin-offs for residents, not only in terms of job opportunities, but also in terms of increased opportunities for cultural participation.